Anantnag, May 12: Government Girls Middle School Babdar, located in the Dooru educational zone in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district, operate from a crumbling structure as the administration has failed to approve the renovations or a new facility for it.
Around 46 students are enrolled in the school for the current academic year, with seven teachers to execute tasks.
“The school was established in 1981 and later upgraded to a middle school in 2010. It has since been operating from a rented accommodation of a cracked building that could collapse any time,” a local, whose child studies in the school, told Rising Kashmir.
He said the students have only a few basic facilities. “We have been urging those in charge to renovate the school but to no avail. There is always a risk of structure collapsing, especially during bad weather,” he said.
Another local, whose daughter is enrolled in the school, said the students deserve a better learning environment. He said the issue should have been resolved sooner. “Even the school department makes lofty claims of better infrastructure in government schools, but we have not seen anything like that,” he said.
Zonal Education Officer (ZEO) Dooru Mulkh Raj told Rising Kashmir that they had written to the higher-ups regarding the school’s condition but there had been no progress in this regard.
“After learning about the school’s dilapidated condition, our engineer visited it and declared it unsafe in December last year, after which we wrote to higher-ups about it. We also brought the matter to the attention of the relevant tehsildar and asked him to find state land for the new construction. However, there has been no progress in this regard,” the ZEO said, adding, “We visited the school and submitted a fresh report on it.”
